After hearing from more than 5,000 people in the last year, MnDOT’s primary focus is on bike and pedestrian safety, vehicle safety and pavement quality on the two highways. Project manager Tony Wotzka says by the end of July, they would like to hear more feedback about anything that might have been missed before they move forward.
“What we’re looking at in terms of feedback now is, Did we get this right? Did we get the right needs, did we identify the right things for this corridor, are there other elements we should look at closer?” said Wotzka.
One thing they’re hearing is that many drivers don’t feel safe. With traffic counts at about 30,000 vehicles a day on each roadway, that’s also the case for pedestrians trying to cross.
Neal Koenig lives between the two roads. “My experience is I ride my bike to go quite often across Highway 65 and it does seem like you’re in a little danger zone sometimes because people don’t want to stop, even when you have the crosswalk light going,” Koenig said.
Koenig suggests more overpasses on Highway 65, including Osborne Road. He says he and his wife go out of their way to avoid 65.
“Too many lights too much congestion, too much on-coming traffic coming off County Road 10, especially in rush hour.”
Mn-DOT hopes the input can develop a road map for where improvements are needed the most.
“We know there’s a safety thing out there. There’s safety concerns, there’s safety issues, we have high crash rates,” says Wotzka. “That’s really why the bike and pedestrian safety was identified as a primary need. And the same thing goes for our vehicles, too as primary, because that’s what the data told us through and through. That’s what we heard through the stakeholder process, said Wotzka.
Wotzka says Mn-DOT is looking for a shared vision that work for cities, counties, motorists and businesses including those with truck traffic.
You can offer your input by using this link: http://www.dot.state.mn.us/metro/projects/hwy47andhwy65study/index.html
